


Siginâm

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Agnu Ra Nutû [34]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 04:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1884717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"One last journey together." Bilbo leans back a little into the saddle of his pony, smiling into the warmth of the sun a moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siginâm

"One last journey together." Bilbo leans back a little into the saddle of his pony, smiling into the warmth of the sun a moment. It's nice against his skin, seeping through his clothes and into his bones, as it hasn't seemed to do in many years. He should have spent more time outside when he was in Erebor.

"Aye. A pity you're not coming all the way to Erebor, though I suppose the elves aren't too bad." Bofur is riding next to him right now, the others in a rough line ahead and behind. Kíli and Tauriel are at the front, easily distinguishable from the rest even if Bilbo couldn't identify each and every one of those with him.

"Elrond's better than that leaf-eater in Mirkwood." Nori is just ahead of them, and clearly listening to what's going on around him, but then, he always is. Nothing Bilbo ever said had been a secret around the lean dwarf. "Though it does mean you're not likely to see Dáin again, unless you plan to leave Imladris at some point."

Bilbo supposes he shouldn't be surprised Nori knows about the arrangement with Dáin and Hitha, even if neither Dáin nor Hitha talk about it. "If he decides to visit, he does, and if not, it's not as if there's some great love lost that will break either of our hearts."

Nori shrugs, not saying anything, and Bilbo rolls his eyes at the dwarf's back. Beside him, he can see Bofur's surprised expression at the edge of his vision, which means it hadn't been a secret that had come out widely. Just Nori, then, and probably Thorin.

"Is that why Dáin made those trips through Erebor to go to the Blue Mountains?" Bofur's surprise is fading, and there's amusement in his voice.

"I don't know that he ever went to the Ered Luin." Bilbo had been surprised the first time Dáin had come to the Shire, but it had been nice to have someone who'd come visit after Bilbo had adopted Frodo. They'd never done anything in Erebor, because there had been no need to make it obvious to others.

"Also why you made that one trip all the way to the Iron Hills." Nori isn't helping, and Bilbo gives him a half-hearted glare, but doesn't bother to scold. These are his friends, after all, and he doesn't really need to keep this secret from them. Particularly since it's ended with his retiring to Imladris, and no one involved has been worried by it.

"Hitha wanted to meet me, and she wasn't going to leave the Iron Hills to do so." Bilbo shrugs. "I'm surprised you didn't tell anyone what you'd figured out before now."

"I didn't need to. Bofur's the only one of us who didn't figure it out." Nori looks over his shoulder at them, smirking at Bofur. "No one talks about it, though. Why bother? You were happy, Dáin and Hitha weren't at odds, and the Iron Hills didn't know. What else mattered?"

"Frodo. Idhun." Bilbo hadn't hidden Dáin's visits from Frodo, and Dáin had never lied to his daughter about where he went when he left the Iron Hills, but they'd never spoken to either child about why. Even now, Bilbo hadn't bothered to explain to Frodo.

"Probably figured it out before half the Company." Nori reins in his pony to drop back to ride next to Bilbo. "Children are remarkably observant, Bilbo. And more invisible than Hobbits with magic rings."

"I shouldn't be surprised you knew about that, too." Bilbo gives Nori a mock-glare. "Is there any secret you don't know?"

"If there are, I don't know them yet." Nori grins at the grumble of frustration from Bilbo, and shrugs. "Does it matter, Bilbo?"

Bilbo sighs, looking at the road ahead for a long moment. Did it matter that everyone seemed to know what he thought he'd kept secret well enough? Or that Nori had ferreted out what had been his best aid on the road between the mountains and Erebor on that first journey?

"I suppose it doesn't." He glances over at Nori. "How much do you know about that little magic ring of mine?"

He still feels like it is his, though he's given it to Frodo. Let his nephew make use of it, and let him retire and rest.

"That it's more dangerous than you'd think from looking at it. It worried Tharkun." Nori pauses, looking at the ears of his pony with a small frown. "I almost thought it was trying to whisper to me during the worst days."

Bilbo shivers, thinking about the whispers over the last sixty years.

"Why wait this long to talk to me about it?"

"Where would I?" Nori gives him a look like he's being obtuse. "In Erebor, there are always eyes and ears everywhere I go, have been for over fifty years. I can't travel alone anymore, and this is the first time I've traveled with anyone I trust to overhear." There's frustration in Nori's voice, and Bilbo grimaces at the thought of just how hard it had become for his friend to be who he wanted to be, after the wedding to Thorin.

There's silence for a moment before Nori sighs, his voice quieter this time. "It didn't seem to making you less than you were, or I would have found a way to avoid the eyes and ears, and dragged you to Tharkun by your ear." He pauses. "Or even to the elves, because they're at least useful for that much. Probably to Elrond."

"I wouldn't imagine you'd try to take me to Mirkwood." Bilbo chuckles, smiling easily at Nori. "I didn't realize you got along at all well with any elf, though."

Nori smirks, and shrugs. "Elrond is the only one who's actually worth talking to. He's not a bad sort, for an elf."

Dori snorts behind them, and Bilbo raises an eyebrow as he turns to look back over his shoulder at the silver-haired dwarf.

"Lord Elrond indulges Nori's light-fingered antics." Dori gives Nori a fondly exasperated look. "He comes home with something new every time he visits Rivendell."

"They didn't look like they belonged there." Nori shrugs, looking utterly unrepentant. "And I don't always just take things from Rivendell. Sometimes I leave things there."

"Stolen things."

"Liberated from owners who have no idea what they have, and don't deserve those belongings anyway. They're in better hands with Elrond." Nori rolls his eyes at Dori, the argument having the comfortable feeling of a long-standing disagreement between the brothers.

Dori shakes his head, but doesn't respond to Nori, the company continuing along the journey in comfortable silence for a while before someone starts singing, and everyone else takes up the words.

**Author's Note:**

> Title means "journeys". (Updated for the new dictionary.)


End file.
